WISTA is an international organisation of women working in the shipping industry. Our members include naval architects, maritime lawyers, ship's engineers, insurance and sale and purchase brokers, claims adjusters and many others working both directly in the industry and providing services to the industry.

We organise events such as site visits, seminars, workshops and industry related events where our members have the opportunity of meeting and forming relationships with other professionals working within the shipping industry.

WISTA-UK is the oldest of all the National WISTA Associations dating back from 1974. We would like to welcome you to our site and discover who we are and what we do and of course we will be delighted to welcome you as our next member!

Came by SHIPcampaign

During 2014 we wish to celebrate our 40 years by taking our networking a step further We wish to throw open our doors to the public. Our aim is to encourage young people to think about the maritime/shipping industry as a big opportunity to look for jobs. This could be a life changing opportunity for some.

WISTA-UK is leading a campaign in the UK to celebrate its 40th anniversary. The Came by SHIP campaign wishes to highlight the importance of shipping industry in our lives.

The UK is heavily dependent on the maritime trade; over 90% of the goods we consume and export come (or go) by SHIP, but most of the public has no knowledge of the importance and necessary are those ships for our economy –food, fuel and goods.

Merchant shipping is the lifeblood of the world economy, there is an estimate of 102,000 commercial ships worldwide. They operate on the high seas, as well as on short distances among neighbouring countries (short sea) or from port to port within the same country (cabotage).

It all started by WISTA-UK aiming to reach out to the shipping community to make a joint effort to catch the attention of the public to the maritime industry. Our message to everyone is that our industry in general has values, experience, gratitude and knowledge.

We want to inspire the young generation, by making the young people interested and think in our industry; if we could be their inspiration to look for a job opportunity within, or to get training to join our sector, this will mean that our work/mission has been worth it. If all together we can manage to attract young talents, we then can retire thinking that our legacy is safe in their hands and our industry will carry on.

For all of us that have a passion for shipping, this is very important, the certainty that our enthusiasm and wisdom is carried on by today’s youngsters. We were like them once upon a time, naïve and inexperience, but we were lucky enough to go into an industry that we love. Once the shipping “virus” got into us, we felt in love with shipping and never looked back! Therefore, let the Came by SHIP campaign and WISTA-UK inspire you to inspire others.